Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1887-03-12
THE TWO CATS.

ears
There was something smagnetic" about It,
to use tho slang of tho day; at least it at 7
tracted Joe to the row Of raspberries that
flung their green arms oil abroad on the old
picket Tense between his garden and the next
neighbours and irrcsistibly bent his head to
peep through those respectable palings and
see what he could see.
And this is what he saw: Such q lovely
grill Tier hair was rcd, 10 he sure, but 1t was
bronze red that louks brown in tho
depth OF its ripplcs and gold OH their clests.
Just now, in the blazing sunshine, it was oil
a rich deep red, with gilt threads among it,
but then she had such eyes! large, clear. rcd
hazel eyes, as beautiful as a robins or a
squirrels, fringed with dark lasl,cs and over
lifted with q look of surprise that was tho
result Of shape and outline.
l regret to say that her fair, soft brow and
cheeks werc slightly freckled, but in such n
frssh red and white the smallest spot will
show, and nobody is perfectly beautiful. not
even Mary Ann May, commonly call.d
"Manny May" For instance, her mouth was
large; but then it was SD full, so rtsl. AMI
parted over such firm white teeth, TINT it
seemed just TO match the saucy littIenos,ubove
and tho round dlnpled chin below it. Her
waist was large, too, just as large rs the
waist OF any s:ulptule,l gNtdess wrought by
Phidias or Praxitcles, for Nanny hMl never
been pinchel i'll mind or buly, W given over
to that awful tyrant "rhey," who puts our
girls to the torture of rack and bout from
their infancy, that they may he and do as
"They" do and are.
But she had a tall, strong, shapcly figure.
and its movements were I'LL instinct with tho
untranmelcd grace Of hutuIe. As she stsod
in her mothers gurdcn, with 10th hands clasp
ing her pct to her txs,mit, u baEket Of dainie-
lion greens and All old cuSc knife at her fts.t.
she was a perfect picture; but she Ind not AL
idea of it.
Joe's theories fed Us he Sazcd. The voice
had not nliSlel him, it was not a mothers
voice; the darling Oh whom Nanny ~laviSlusi
her sweet words, her tender embrace, even her
kisses, was-a cat.
But such a cat! Peter was as great q
beauty US his mistress. His cout of d.s,p
bule-gray was striped and dashed with Shin
ing black; a ring Of black ercirclel his mas
sive neck; his tail WIS rlmged also with sable,
and five wide black stripes ran from between
his ears down TO the very tip Of tho tail,
merging US they went into ono Lruad bniml.
then there was a snow-white spot upDu his
breast, and his powerful paws were black rs
jet.
"Manny's dumb silly about that there cnt."
was her fathers chronic growl; but, since
NANNY was all the child left u him, a,l IN
his secret hcart it's living idol, no only
growlcd. lie would not hnve uttered q de
rusatury word about Peter for anything; he
even remembered to get Il bit Of nn,t for him
whenever he went to the village, and hul
orcc been known to turn back half a mile fu,
that very purpose.
AS for ulothcr May, she spoiled the cot just
as she Ind spoiled Mary Ann. Sl,o WIS a
dear, kindly, tcndcr-hclrted old woman, with
an utter inability to rule or order or mole
anybody or anything. She took life as sln
found it, and neither frettrl at nor tried t.
amend it-a sort Of moral feather bed, soft
to evaporation, but, after all, iv,ttml to I'll.
eager, huru-wurked, cxasleruted and why
people OF her race.
"A proper, nice woman" Scmantiy Car
rier said; "at.oays nm eternally gSsAl
,atured. No faculty i'll her, and ono that
rifles you considerable when you wmut to iu,v,
things gee; but when you're sick or sorry,
sort Of comfortin', like Il poultice."
Peter knew his power and his position.
Petted from his early kittpnhoot, he s.xnl
learned, like the young OF the human species,
that lie could tyrannizn over his PETERS, and
then tho warinest, softtSt aat was given ur
to him, the door opened at his first appeal,
the cihlcts Of the rarely used fowls were
saved for him, his tastes Gratitiel ami his no
tons respected. One is sometimes tenipt.st 70
half accept the masculine theory thai women
like tyrailts, when one sees how they m,n'i.
fncture them for themselves.
Now, Joseph Parker Ind just come to Mcri
den to live. A certain Mr.. Webb. who had 4
mandatory in Vermont, had moved tc
Meriden to get more water power. and as Jnt
Parker was his foreman in tho paper mill, lie
had moved too, hired n house n little way on,
of til" village, next to Mr.. Mays homestead
aud brought with him his niothcr-and his
mothers cat. Hence this story, and What.
ever tears may besprinklc it.
Mrs. Parker's cat WAS not at all like petal
May. He was black, all black, with green
yellow eyes, and an aspect that made q
stranger think Of tho regulation cat lila, was
the familiar Of witches in nll history. HI
cam from Hanover to Mcri.lcn by rail. nailc,
up in a strawberry crate, Kissing. splitting
yowling and sharpening his claws on his frai
prison all the way, to the terror of every pas
sengcr in the car. Indeed, 200 was forced tt
carry crate and all into a baggage car at tho
tli,d station. and ride with it the rest of tb,
way, for the brakeiiien refused TO look aftcl
it. so daunted We're they will, the wild anima
within. Tiger was sent into solitary confine
nicnt in the cellar as s.NMI rs Mrs. Parker
reached her llou>s,, and was subiuci by hunger
and darkness before they dared to let hin
range abroad i'll the new n~ciShlnrhood.
Now, Joe Par,,cr had not been in Meridc1
long enough to make much acquaintance
there. and was very hard at work the first
few weeks OF his stay, 50 that be always wen
to sleep in church on Sunday: and missed any
sight thereby Of the blooming damsels in tho
choir or in the pews; lie was ashamed Of it, 1,
Ike sure, hut there was the change Of air from
Vermont mountains to the fat meadow land
aud low lying pastures about the river, and
then he was really overworke,l for u time ~
helping to place the new machinery, move tho
old, and settle his mother in this strange plarc,
where lie knew 10 one to whom he could up
ply for help OF suggestion. 1t was not Sun
day to-day when lie peeled through the fence
Mt Nanny, and suddenly, as if by q stroke.
! lost bis honest young heart-for, beloved
reader, this is only a love story. Only a love
story: only 4 record Of the great world song,
That passing bell
That tolls one into heaven or he'll.
as the old poet sings. When 1 bear people
say, Only a love story" I think of that
rouplet of Tennyson's:
One drew a sharp knife through my tender throat
Slowly. and nothing more.
Quite enough for once! muses. the average
reader; and so is this matter of love, be it in
the passion Of Romeo and Juliet or the less
wordy and more commonplace emotion of q
foreman in a factory and a farmers daugh-
tnr for affor all edo tho hocf tlat 40 .nauv